Many computing devices, such as mobile phones and tablet computers, provide a graphical keyboard as part of a graphical user interface for inputting text using a presence-sensitive display (e.g., a touchscreen). For instance, a computing device may present the graphical keyboard on a presence-sensitive display and thereby permit the user to enter data by tapping or otherwise positioning a finger at or near regions of the display that are associated with keys of the graphical keyboard.
In some cases, the computing device may present a virtual (or “soft”) keyboard at a presence-sensitive display with which the user can input text by sequentially sliding a finger over regions associated with virtual keys corresponding to desired input characters. Said differently, using such a virtual keyboard, a user may input a word in a single gesture by tracing over representations of letters comprising that word (e.g., virtual keys of the virtual keyboard). In some implementations, the computing device references one or more gesture libraries and/or dictionaries to determine one or more candidate words based on the gesture. In this manner, a gesture-based keyboard may allow a user to achieve improved efficiency over traditional tap-typing techniques.
However, keyboards have certain drawbacks. For example, if a user inadvertently traces her finger over an undesired letter, many gesture-capable keyboards may require the user to lift her finger in order to correct the error. This requirement may significantly reduce the speed at which a user may enter text into a computing device using a gesture-capable virtual keyboard.